The Chinese Don't Age Well

"The most convoluted, ridiculous, racist piece of material ever to be uttered on radio." - Ricky Gervais (Xfm, 02 August 2003)

The Chinese Don't Age Well is a theory from Karl Pilkington. Karl claims that Chinese people (he may be referring to Oriental people in general) look older than they actually are. Originally discussed on Xfm, the theory was also mentioned on 'Meet Karl Pilkington', a 20 minute interview with Karl on Ricky's Politics DVD.

Politics

According to Karl, on the Politics DVD, a "little Chinese Fella" is "like a pear", and just ages over night. After hearing Ricky's response, that the oldest man in the world is Chinese (at 120), Karl says he's probably 30.

Songs of Phrase

On 02 August 2003, the 'popular phrase' was used for Karl's Songs Of Phrase quiz. It was the second time that Phil Bailey's Chinese Wall was used for the word 'Chinese' in the quiz. The actual phrase used in the quiz was; "I know you're just 16, but looking all of 21, that's because the Chinese look older"

Response

There have been many discussions relating to Chinese people in the show, but this is the most frequent. In one instance, a listener on Xfm contacted the show asking how long he had before his Chinese fiance started looking old; Karl's advice is to "get some good wedding photos", implying that she is about to start looking old (he later said that they "go overnight, like a pear"). Typically, Ricky and Steve dismiss this theory as nothing.

External Links

• YouTube - Meet Karl Pilkington video